Patterns of prescription opioid use following ED presentation for minor road traffic crash injury

Australia is five years behind the US’ opioid epidemic (>15,000 US deaths/year). General Practitioners and EDs frequently prescribe opioids for isolated musculoskeletal pain (e.g. “whiplash”) from RTCs, but this potentially inappropriate opioid prescribing likely leads to unnecessary opioid exposures. In the last decade, opioid overdoses in Australia have more than doubled. 75% of opioid overdose deaths involve prescription opioids; annual death rates exceed road traffic deaths.

Emergency Departments (EDs) commonly prescribe opioids on discharge for patients with non-serious road traffic crash (RTC) injury. This potentially compromises recovery and contributes to continued opioid use and potential misuse in the community.

The project will address the gap on whether, or for how long, short courses of opioids are continued following acute non-serious RTC injury, and to what extent this causes subsequent problems, by measuring patterns of use, impacts, and costs of opioid use in EDs and following discharge over a 12-month period.

The project will provide the first Australian data on opioid prescribing in ED for acute minor RTC injuries and link ED data to community data to explore longitudinal prescribing patterns post RTC.

uSing Meditation App to Reduce ED occupational sTress (SMART) trial

Our study aims to test whether a mindfulness program delivered by a smartphone app can reduce occupational stress levels among Emergency Department (ED) staff. This study will recruit staff at two regional EDs. Staff will practice short session mindfulness daily, for four weeks, using a smartphone meditation app. The study will determine if, by using the app, staff levels of occupational stress are reduced and overall wellness increased. The levels of stress reduction will be compared before and after the intervention.

Working in an ED can be stressful. It has been suggested that up to half ED doctors and nurses may suffer from burnout due to high workload, overcrowding and limited resources. Staff stress and its negative consequence pose challenging issues to both individual clinicians and healthcare organisations. Sub-optimal wellness of staff is closely associated with poor patient care, more medical incidents and a high staff turnover rate. One way to reduce staff stress levels is by promoting staff coping skills and wellness. Mindfulness is a mental technique to focus self-awareness at the present moment and non-judgmentally. It has been used widely to promote staff workplace wellness. Smartphone apps are a relatively new delivery method for mindfulness that has not yet been tested among ED staff.

Australia, Asia and New Zealand Dyspnoea in Emergency Departments Study

Shortness of breath (dyspnoea) is a terrifying symptom experienced by patients and is a common reason for presentation to Emergency Departments. There are a wide range of causes including flair up due to chronic conditions such as asthma, heart failure, chronic lung disease or liver or kidney failure. Acute conditions such as a collapsed lung, chest infection (including pneumonia), trauma (including fractured ribs), airway blockage or an allergic reaction can also be the cause.

There is significant knowledge about patients who are admitted to hospital with common causes, however there is little conclusive information about Dyspnoea as a symptom, the distribution of causes, the proportion of patients requiring admission and whether treatment complies with evidence-based guidelines.

A recent pilot study in Europe found that 53 per cent of patients had a respiratory cause for symptoms, 22 per cent had a cardiac cause, and 15 per cent had both cardiac and respiratory components. Almost two-thirds were admitted to hospital with over one-third discharged from ED. However, in many ways, the study raised more questions than it answered. The study was also too small to comment on adherence to evidence-based guidelines.

For that reason, a larger EuroDEM (digital elevation model) study is planned for 2014. The study will be complemented by the Australia, Asia and New Zealand Dyspnoea Departments of Emergency Medicine (AANZDEM) which will collect data from a different region with different systems of care. It will focus on the range of causes, variation over seasons and geographical areas, and compliance with recommended treatments.

High Flow Nasal Cannula treatment for viral Bronchiolitis, a randomised controlled trial

Acute respiratory disease is the leading cause for infants and children needing hospital admission. The main focus of hospital treatment is oxygen therapy beside disease specific treatment like inhalers for asthma or antibiotics for pneumonia. 10 to 20% of these infants or children need higher level of care at some point of their illness and will be transferred to a children’s hospital intensive care unit. This is not only expensive and imposes a huge burden on health care costs but more importantly is very stressful for these children and families because they are taken out of their familiar environment. Recent research suggests that with early optimal respiratory support the need for transfer can be significantly reduced and many of these patients could be cared in their regional hospital allowing the family to be the main support group. This concept of “keeping the patients in their regional centre” is not only from a psychosocial aspect of advantage but will have as well a great impact on health care costs. Our research group has recently investigated the role of high flow therapy in infants with bronchiolitis and we were able to demonstrate a 40% reduction in intensive care admission. Early respiratory intervention is a fundamentally new approach, which has the potential to prevent progression and deterioration of respiratory illness. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of high flow therapy in infants with bronchiolitis, but future research and trials will also include other conditions such as asthma and pneumonia.

A randomised controlled trial of interventional versus conservative treatment of primary spontaneous pneumothorax

Primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) is defined as a collapsed lung with air in the pleural cavity that occurs in the absence of clinically apparent underlying lung disease. PSP is a significant global health problem affecting adolescents and young adults. Throughout the 20th century the treatment of PSP was predominantly bed rest, with invasive treatment reserved for severely symptomatic episodes. A study in 1966 suggested that managing large and small PSP in the community was safe. Despite this, rates of intervention have steadily increased over the decades. The reasons for this are unclear and this approach has recently been questioned in the scientific literature. Preliminary data suggests that a conservative approach to management may allow faster healing and reduce the risk of recurrence from around 25 per cent to 5 per cent in the first year. Conservative management is also likely to reduce the risks of prolonged admission due to persistent leak from approximately 30 per cent to less than 10 per cent and of other complications related to interventional management. Clinicians are, however, unlikely to change a practice entrenched for decades and re-enforced by current international guidelines without robust evidence.

This study will significantly increase our understanding of Primary spontaneous pneumothorax and its optimal management. If allowing the lung to remain collapsed initially results in improved healing of the pleural defect and lower recurrence rates then this study will contribute to improve outcomes and a reduction in the morbidity associated with current treatment.